First Bank Earmarks N1.5m For 3 Entrepreneurs

The First Bank of Nigeria Plc. on Friday earmarked N1.5 million to three entrepreneurs to aid them with their innovations.

Mrs Lola Ekugo, the First Bank, Head of Digital Laboratory made this known at the First Bank Idea Challenge at the Social Media Week in Lagos.

According to her, the First Bank Idea Challenge is also a mean of the bank to celebrate its 125 years in the banking industry.

“First Bank has been around for almost 125 years and it is key for us to give out the best in banking services to our customers, and looking forward to a better next 125 years.

“We are a forward thinking and forward looking bank, very deliberate about our actions; so we are looking to the future that is bright for our customers.

“The Idea Challenge is an initiative that was set up to work with our customers and bring about ideas that will make a complete turn around revolution for the future,” she said.

Ekugo said that N500,000 was given to the first, second and third idea winners.

She said that it was to encourage them to continue to think about the future ideas that would push the financial industry forward.

Ekugo said that for the criteria, the challenge was first held on the Facebook where people were encouraged to share their ideas, while those that got the highest goals were assessed and sorted for participation.

She said that different sectors like the cultural, educational and specifically on financial services in different areas were chosen and about 20 were shortlisted.

“There will not be any form of monitoring as the cash prize is a form of encouragement for them to continue to think, stimulate and build toward the future.

“We will not work closely with them like we did with the hackathon.

“It is just a medium for them to tell us what they think the future will bring and we can look at that and also see if it will fit into the future that we have in mind,” she said.